Last Day for My T-fal & CookingPlanit Giveaway

I decided to cook a 3-course Cooking Planit meal called the “Taco Twist.” It’s rather elaborate for a weekday: Chipotle chicken tacos with lime cream and cabbage; tomato, cucumber and avocado salad with creamy goat cheese; and pineapple and mint quinoa.

While it does take a while to prepare the 3 dishes (about 1 ½ hours from start to finish) and they include a lot of ingredients, the steps are simple and the techniques used in the recipes are not difficult. Cooking Planit rates the meal as “easy.” I’d agree, with the caveat that it is easy for someone who is used to cooking; a true novice cook might need to try each of recipes separately before putting them together.

This is the second time I have used the Cooking Planit site and related iPhone app to cook a meal. (The first time was 2 weeks ago when I made cornmeal shrimp and potato hash.) I chose the meal using the site on my laptop

then swtiched to the app on my iPhone for the preparation and cooking.

I did all the preparation about two hours ahead of time, following the instructions on the app (after you click “get started” in the upper right. Once I was done with the prep, I exited the app, which cancels the step-by-step instructions midway through. I then went back into the app and the instructions when it was time to cook dinner. It would be nice to have the option of advance preparation separated from the cooking steps. That way, you wouldn’t have to cancel mid-way and then peel through the preparation steps when you go back into it to cook. I suggested that to Cooking Planit and it turns out that they are already working on just such a feature. Smart folks!

I had a few mishaps making this meal, but all’s well that ends well.

First my phone cut out in the middle of cooking and I had to go back to the beginning and speed through to get back to my place in the instructions. No idea whether the fault was mine, the phone’s or the app’s, but I speedily got back to my place (like having a bookmark fall out if you’re still reading “paper” books) and went on my way.

Then, I couldn’t figure out how to shut off the voice telling me the timer was done. Actually, it was rather comical, as the voice got more and more insistent, reminding me of my GPS as “she” says “recalculating” several times when I refuse to take the recommended route. It’s almost worth making the timer stay on, just to hear what happened. My husband came rushing into the kitchen, wondering who was in there with me, only to find me trying pressing various places on my phone. Eventually the timing master and I reached an accommodation and I continued on my way.

Then, as I am wont to do, I burned the bottom of the T-fal pot in which I cooked the quinoa. But the grain was perfectly done when I poured it out and the pot cleaned up in a flash with a plastic scrubber and some dishwashing detergent, so no harm done.

The meal was quite good. We (my husband and I) agreed that it would be worth having again. The quinoa dish was outstanding – a real keeper and one that I could easily imagine becoming a staple around here as we try to eat more whole grains. I was impressed at how accurate the quantities specified were when I adjusted the recipes from the standard 4 servings to 2; there was just enough left over that we could have eaten large portions of all 3 dishes if we’d been so inclined.

The advantage of seeing all the comments that Giveaway entrants have left as to what Cooking Planit meal they would like to make is that I already have some great ideas for my Cooking Planit meal #3. Which Cooking Planit meal or dish do you want to try?

I received a set of the T-fal cookware in connection with this Giveaway Program. I agreed to write posts on using it and the Cooking Planit app, but those companies have no control over the content of the posts I write or any ways in which I may choose to promote my posts or the Giveaway Program.